LCS Best bets – Week 1

This article is a guide to betting on the first week of the LCS Spring Split, starting on Thursday.

This article will give a 3-fold accumulator on the best combination of bets for this week’s LCS games.

Game 1 – G2 eSports vs Elements

Winner – G2

Odds – 21/20 (Betfair)

This is, in my opinion, the bargain bet of the week. 

G2’s roster was one of the more pleasant surprises of the off-season with pickups of Kim “Trick” Gang-yun, former jungle sub for CJ Entus, and Kim “Emperor” Jin-hyun, formerly of TDK. The lineup is rounded off by two of the most promising challenger players from the last year, Glenn “Hybrid” Doornenbal and Luka “PerkZ” Perkovi?, as well as ex-Unicorns of Love jungler Mateusz “Kikis” Szkudlarek.

Kikis is the only question mark I can see with this roster having roleswapped from jungle to top but in reality this is only a return to where he began his career. G2 are solid. 

No one on Elements have shown impressive performances at a top level barring MrRallez and I don’t think he is a player who can win games alone. 

I expect G2 to take this game handily and better than evens odds is a steal.

Game 2 – NRG eSports vs Team Dignitas

Winner – NRG eSports

Odds – 8/13 (Betfair)

NRG’s announcement was one of the most impressive in an action-packed off-season. They not only announced a star-studded roster featuring Lee “GBM” Chang-seok, Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong and Johnny “Altec” Ru but also high quality coaching staff featuring ex-Origen head coach and analyst Tadayoshi “Hermit” Littleton. 

Team Dignitas also had a good off-season. Their lineup is not packed with stars but far less known players such as Thomas “Kirei” Yuen and Lennart “Smittyj” Warkus, both of whom played in EUCS in the summer split. The team is filled out by Apollo, ex-TIP ADC, as well as Shiphtur and Kiwikid who remain on the team from last year. The roster is by no means poor and is lead by a solid head coach in Barento “Razleplasm” Mohammed but I think they lack the star power of NRG and will struggle to take this game. 

The odds are generous for the much hyped NRG and as part of an accumulator could dish out some decent returns.

Game 3 – Echo Fox vs Team Impulse

Winner – Echo Fox

Odds – 17/20 (Betfair)

Team Impulse had the worst off-season of any of the 20 LCS teams. They tried to sell and failed ending up with a patchwork roster which features just two players who have ever played on an LCS stage. Brandon “DontMashMe” Phan was in LCS on Team Coast who ended up with a horrendous 1-17 while Austin “Gate” Yu was brought in as a midlane sub for the banned XiaoWeiXiao. The roster is basically unknown and the knowns are unimpressive.

Echo Fox boast a 6 man roster with some notable talent. Froggen is most likely going to start the first game in the mid lane if he isn’t subbed out for Marcin “Selfie” Wolski who he was announced alongside. Anthony “Hard” Barkhovtsev was impressive during his time as jungler for Cloud9 Tempest and the roster is completed by well-known Yuri “KEITH” Jew and Korean soloq talent Park “kfo” Jeong-hun.

The team is coached by David “Cop” Roberson and although they may not be the most exciting roster the NALCS has to offer they should be able to take this game simply due to their opponents who are, in my opinion, the worst roster out of both LCS regions combined.

Odds booster – Immortals vs Team Impulse

Winner – Immortals

Odds – 1/4 (Betfair)

Although this isn’t part of the 3-bet accumulator if the returns weren’t quite high enough you can give them a small boost by adding this bet to the slip.

As I have already mentioned I think TIP are the weakest team in the NA LCS and I believe that IMT can be one of the strongest. This is a banker bet and although the returns are poor as a single it could be a nice addition to an accumulator.

Final Bet: Stake of £10 returns £61.20 (£76.50 including IMT vs TIP)

G2 vs EL @ 21/20

NRG vs DIG @ 8/13

FOX vs TIP @ 17/20

(IMT vs TIP @ 1/4)